FF leader attacks FG as ‘an out of touch elite’
FIANNA Fáil leader Micheál Martin last night labelled Leo Varadkar an ‘out-of-touch’ elitist who is dragging Fine Gael to the right.
In his Ard Fheis keynote speech, Mr Martin made a clear bid to distinguish his party from Fine Gael. It was Fianna Fáil’s first Ard Fheis since the 2016 general election and much of the speech was used to attack the Taoiseach and his party.
Mr Martin told the 4,000 delegates at the RDS in Ballsbridge that ‘in recent months there has been a big move to the right by Fine Gael’.
‘Their biggest priority has been a push for a more divisive and regressive tax policy – and no interest in tackling the deep problems in public services,’ he said.
‘Only an out-of-touch elite could have come up with the idea of trying to divide society into those who get up early in the morning, and everyone else,’ he added.
‘I’m sorry, but we will never accept labelling the sick, pensioners, children with special needs, people with disabilities or people looking for a home as being less entitled to society’s support,’ said Mr Martin.
The rocky road to the referendum on the Eighth Amendment to the Constitution got even trickier when Fianna Fáil delegates at the Ard Fheis voted overwhelming to oppose any attempt to lessen the constitutional rights of the unborn.
A separate motion supporting a woman’s right to choose in any forthcoming referendum was also defeated by a significant majority.
The votes followed a lengthy debate which saw 22 contributions from the floor. The party hierarchy has already confirmed that both ordinary and Oireachtas members will be given a free vote on the issue. The vote is seemingly in contrast to recent opinion polls that suggest a majority of the Irish public would allow abortion in the case of Fatal Foetal Abrnomalities.
But with the conservative wing of Fine Gael also expected to follow a pro-life line, the fact that the two largest parties in the Dáil have significant pro-life factions will only add to what is already shaping up to be the most divisive referendum campaign since the original 1983 referendum.
Mr Martin’s leader’s speech marked out his party’s centre-left path for the next election. He accused Fine Gael of veering to the right to gain votes.
‘The decision by Fine Gael to head off on this new divisive road is more about positioning for an election than trying to govern,’ said Mr Martin.
‘And they’re not the only ones – on the left the message is that more tax and more spending is the answer to everything. They claim that the people who create jobs and who we rely on to build a strong enterprise economy, can be squeezed more and more.
‘What the other parties just don’t understand is that it is the duty of a government to work for all of the people – not just a targeted few.
‘Fianna Fáil is absolutely clear where we stand: we reject their divisive politics. We believe our country is only strong when we work together. When we look after our weakest citizens. When we see enterprise and public services as reinforcing each other – not competing.’
This was a more upbeat Fianna Fáil Ard Fheis than previous years. At the outset of his speech, Mr Martin pointed out that in the 2016 election, ‘We secured the largest increase in votes, the largest increase in percentage terms [and] the largest increase in seats’.
Mr Martin and other Opposition parties have repeatedly criticised Leo Varadkar for what they perceive as his obsession with media spin and his image.
This tack suits Fianna Fáil more than most, as it has significant input to Government policy-making through the confidence and supply agreement.
This newspaper reveals today that Mr Martin has written to the Secretary General of the Department of the Taoiseach for clarification of matters relating to the establishment of the Strategic Communications Unit.
The SCU has been set up personally by Mr Varadkar to overhaul Government communications.
A recurrent theme that ran through many speeches at the Ard Fheis was criticism of Government spin. Mr Martin said the Taoiseach has ‘an addiction to spin’.
‘There are, today, more political appointees working on communications than at any time in our history. The Taoiseach has actually appointed a marketing expert to his department,’ he said.
Significantly, Mr Martin’s speech concentrated almost wholly on attacking Fine Gael. There was only one reference to Sinn Féin – in relation to the North.
This could be seen as the opening salvo in the next election campaign as Mr Martin’s speech identified FG as his party’s chief rivals.
‘Woman’s right to choose vote defeated’
‘Duty of a government to work for all the people’